


Blind Date

by WorryinglyInnocent



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: A Monthly Rumbelling, AU, Blind Date, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-23
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-27 07:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15019796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WorryinglyInnocent/pseuds/WorryinglyInnocent
Summary: After overdoing it on the tequila, Belle finds herself in possession of a number she doesn’t remember getting, and an invitation to a date. She decides to take a chance on this self-inflicted blind date and discover the identity of her admirer…Written for the @a-monthly-rumbelling prompt: “Drinking, karaoke, dancing, kissing, date”





	Blind Date

When Belle’s head stopped pounding, she was going to kill Ruby and Ariel, and then swear to join a nunnery and never drink ever again.

It wasn’t entirely the girls’ fault. Belle did have to admit that some of the blame lay at her own door for agreeing to do shots with them in the first place.

Most of the blame, however, could be traced back to the company directors, who had decided that an open bar at the annual office summer barbeque was a good idea.

At least Belle could sleep easy in the knowledge that whilst she might not be able to remember what she had done, she knew that there were definitely people who had been behaving far worse than she had. Belle was in her own apartment wearing all the same clothes that she had been wearing at the beginning of the event and she was, blessedly, alone. Whatever might have happened, she still had at least a modicum of her dignity.

She was definitely never drinking tequila again though.

Once she’d taken a shower and brushed her teeth, she felt marginally better, and tried to start piecing parts of the evening together. She seemed to remember that dancing on a table with Ariel and Ruby had been involved at some point after the tequila, but other than that, most of the night was a blur.

Picking up last night’s clothes to tidy them into the laundry hamper, she saw a note poking out of her skirt pocket, and she went to investigate.

_Thursday, 8PM,_  the note read, along with a cell phone number. Belle sat down on the end of her bed, staring at the note. Had she got a date last night? Trust her to have got a date and be completely unable to remember the conversation.

The problem wasn’t the date, per se. She was after all, single, and she was certainly in the dating market.

The problem was that she was drawing an absolute blank as to whose number this was. She’d agreed to a date with a guy she couldn’t even remember. That could be very embarrassing when Thursday rolled around.

She looked at the number again. It wouldn’t exactly look good if she texted the number asking for the identity of its owner. Maybe she could mitigate it with the excuse that she had been drinking tequila, but that would just make it even worse.

Perhaps she should just cancel the date altogether. She didn’t really trust her judgement of men when she was drunk, but then again, there was always the possibility that she’d struck gold entirely by accident and she’d never know.

When she got back into the office on Monday, it was time to start some detective work.

X

It had to be someone from work, because it had been an office party with no friends or family invited. Sadly, Ariel and Ruby were drawing just as much of a blank as to whose the number could be.

“To be honest, I think I’m still hungover,” Ruby admitted. “I can’t remember anyone coming over and flirting with you, but then, there were a lot of people about and I was doing a lot of flirting of my own.”

“We could always work on the principle of elimination,” Ariel said brightly. “If you narrow it down to single guys and ones whom you know and work with on a regular basis, then that should take out a few.”

Ruby raised an eyebrow. “That basically leaves you with Killian or Archie, and I’m sure that even when drunk, you’ve got enough common sense not to go for Killian.”

“So, it’s Archie.” Ariel spread her hands. “He’d be all right.”

“It wouldn’t be him,” Ruby said. “I’ve got his number.”

“Ok, so maybe not Archie.” Ariel leaned over the partition of her desk and surveyed all the other men in the office whilst Ruby and Belle compared numbers and confirmed that Belle’s mystery man was not Archie. “Who else is eligible?”

Ruby also leaned out from behind her partition.  “Maybe you got lucky with Gold.” She nodded towards his office.

Ariel scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous, Ruby. He doesn’t socialise with us mere mortals at company barbeques.”

Belle peeped over her partition at the man in question, one of the company’s attorneys. He was single as far as Belle knew, and she did work with him on a semi-regular basis, so he did fit the profile. She just couldn’t see him at the barbeque. As Ariel said, he wasn’t really the sociable sort, preferring to keep himself to himself, in his own little office.

She pondered the possibility for a while. He was attractive, and more mature than a lot of the other men in the office. She just couldn’t see him finding her attractive in her worse for wear state. He was classy, and although Belle liked to think that she was fairly classy on a day-to-day basis, she definitely hadn’t been that night.

It was at that moment that Gold hung up his phone call and turned to see Ariel and Ruby spying on him from the main office. Ruby quickly ducked back behind the partition, but Ariel just waved happily until Ruby pulled her back.

“You know, you could just call the number,” Ruby pointed out to Belle.

“That’s boring,” Ariel complained. “If she does that then we don’t get all the fun of guessing.”

“I don’t want him to get the wrong impression,” Belle said. “If he realises just how drunk I was at the party, then he might have second thoughts, and this could be over before its begun. My first date in weeks and I can’t remember who it is. You know, this wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t started drinking tequila.”

“It was a free bar, we had to take advantage.”

Belle didn’t reply. She just stared at the note, now taped to her computer. Thursday was getting closer, and she was going to have to make a decision about what to do soon.

X

The message came out of the blue and when she saw that it was from her mystery number, Belle’s heart began to race, uncertain of what she might find once she read it.

_Are we still going to Marco’s on Thursday at eight?_

Were they? Belle was still no closer to working out who she was going to be meeting, but whoever they were, they seemed to be looking forward to it.

A small part of her wondered if this was all some kind of elaborate prank dreamed up by one of the more unscrupulously-minded guys in the office. She had visions of turning up to Marco’s at eight only to find no-one waiting for her, and then several candid photos of her lonely wait going around the office email the next day.

_Yes, I’m up for it if you are,_  she replied at last. She would take that chance. Be brave and take new opportunities. She made a mental note to ask Ruby to send out a search party if it looked like she’d been kidnapped.

X

Thursday. D-Day. Time for a blind date that wouldn’t have been blind if she’d just had a little more self-control when it came to tequila. Belle had spent all day agonising over what to wear. She didn’t want to appear too keen in case the date turned out to be an utter disaster, but she didn’t want to look like she wasn’t taking it seriously. In the end, she had settled for her blue dress with the spotted overlay, a trusted go-to for first dates. Now all she had to do was get to Marco’s and see who was waiting for her there.

The restaurant was a popular place and quite busy, but Belle couldn’t see anyone who looked like they were alone, and she couldn’t see anyone from the office except Mr Gold.

Belle did a double take. Mr Gold was here. And it did look like he was sitting on his own. Could he be her mystery date after all?

Cautiously, she made her way over to him and her suspicion was confirmed when he smiled shyly, standing up and pulling out her chair for her.

“Thank you for coming,” he said. “I have a confession to make; I wasn’t sure that you would.”

Belle bit her lip. “I have a confession to make too. I had no idea whom I was coming here to meet.”

“Oh.” Gold’s face fell. “I’m sorry, I thought…”

“No, no,” Belle said quickly. “I’m very glad it’s you. I was dreading coming in here and finding out I’d agreed to a date with Killian Jones. I’m very happy I agreed to a date with you.”

“And I’m very happy to hear that. I was afraid that you’d wake up the morning after the party and realise you’d made a terrible mistake.”

“No, I don’t think that this was a terrible mistake at all.” Belle paused. “When did you give me your number? The whole evening’s something of a blur.”

“It was some time after you and Ruby had your impromptu karaoke session,” Gold replied. He was smirking a little, and Belle grimaced. She vaguely remembered singing along to Disney songs with Ruby, both very loudly and incredibly out of tune.

“I thought that if you were brave enough to do that, then I could be brave enough to ask you out on a date,” he continued.

Belle smiled. “I’m glad you did.”

“So am I.”

X

“Come on, it’s been ages and we haven’t heard from Belle about her date, I’m getting worried about her.”

“Ariel, she’s probably got caught up in having a good time and she’s forgotten to check in with us. She’ll be fine. She said she would text when she got home. She’s probably just not home yet.”

“I’m not taking that chance.” Ariel was practically dragging her friend down the road towards Marco’s, and she stopped in her tracks when the restaurant came into view, Ruby almost bumping into her.

“See, she’s fine,” Ruby said, following Ariel’s sight line over to where Belle and Gold were kissing outside the restaurant. “And didn’t I say that she might have got lucky with Gold?”

Ariel was too stunned to reply.


End file.
